Snapshot: Who’s at LACMA

Why did you come to the museum today?
Anna: To look at a Chris Burden book.
Kate: We had an appointment at the research library.

What are you planning on doing after this?
Anna: Today or in general? [laughs] I’m going to go back [to Gemini] and touch up Ken Price prints.
Sydney: Joel Shapiro, who is an artist, is working in our shop now and we’re going back to be with him.

Have you ever been inspired by art to do something that you normally wouldn’t?
Anna: I think that one piece by Chagall with the green man who is floating in the sky… I don’t remember the name of the piece. I was really young when I saw it, I was in third grade and when I saw it I thought, “I want to read Russian novels.” They were too long and boring at the time, but now I love them.

Has a piece of art ever made you laugh/cry? Which one? Why?
Kate: Well, after having looked at the Chris Burden book, I feel nauseated and fearful. But that is great that it is so moving. It was intense.

If you were a piece of artwork, which one would you be and why?
Anna: I’d be a Tàpies; he does really great paintings and prints. He had this one in Barcelona of this hair comb and it has Spanish exclamation points on either side and it was on a big piece of paper; I’d want to be that one, because it’s a monotonous object, but with those exclamation points on either side it not only tells you that it is in Spanish, it tells you that it’s a symbol of other life or day-to-day things that are very important.
Kate: I’d be an Ellsworth Kelly green curve, because it’s really mellow and I need more mellow in my life.
Sydney: [pauses]
Kate: You are an artwork!

•

Julia, fashion designer and Victor, art director

Why did you come to the museum today?
Julia: I’m from Germany, from Berlin, and I really wanted to go here and he told me this [pointing to BCAM] was all new, so I thought, we go.

Has a piece of art ever made you laugh/cry? Which one? Why?
Victor: Not laugh or cry, but it has driven me to recognize and to push myself into seeing things. I’m particularly fascinated with the stuff from the CoBrA movement, sort of psychiatric art, in repetition.

If you were a piece of artwork, which one would you be and why?
Julia: I’d like to be a sculpture from the exhibition we saw at MOCA, Louise Bourgeois. I loved it. I really liked the shapes and the colors and it looks like it feels good to be one of those sculptures.

•

Palmer, student, and Joseph, nurse

Why did you come to the museum today?
Joseph: We just wanted to spend time because she’s my baby and she’s on vacation and I just want to spend a little bit more time with her. On Monday she starts school.

What are you reading right now?
Joseph: I’m reading some stuff to be a citizen. In twenty days I’ll be a citizen [smiles].